Trump’s comments on North Korea, from ‘fire and fury’ to blaming China

As tensions between North Korea and the U.S. continue to escalate, President Donald Trump lambasted the “rogue nation” during his inaugural address to the United Nations General Assembly this week.

During the speech, Trump vowed to “totally destroy North Korea” if the country so provokes him. He also said North Korea leader Kim Jong Un is “on a suicide mission,” using the nickname “Rocket Man” to describe him.

The North Korean ambassador to the U.N. left the room ahead of Trump’s speech to boycott it.

And North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho told reporters late Wednesday that Trump’s speech was like “the sound of a dog barking.” He also said he felt “sorry” for Trump’s aides.

“There is a saying that goes: ‘Even when dogs back, the parade goes on,’” he said. “If [Trump] was thinking about surprising us with dog-barking sounds, then he is clearly dreaming.”

Ri is slated to address the U.N. General Assembly Friday.

Officials say North Korea is getting closer to achieving its long-stated goal of building up its nuclear-armed missiles capable of hitting the U.S. And as the North conducts test and reportedly moved a possible intercontinental ballistic missile closer to the west in the middle of the night, Trump has chastised the nation on social media.

Here’s a look at what Trump has said about North Korea over time.

The U.S. is ‘locked and loaded’

Trump took to social media on August 11 to proclaim that the U.S. military is “locked and loaded” in case “North Korea act[s] unwisely.”

‘Fire [and] fury’ isn’t ‘tough enough’

With the threat of nuclear violence growing, Trump warned North Korea on August 8 that he would unleash “fire, fury and frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before.”

“He has said things that are horrific. And with me, he’s not getting away with it,” Trump said. “He got away with it for a long time, between him and his family. He’s not getting away with it. It’s a whole new ball game.”

‘Strategic patience … is over’

After meeting with the South Korean president in Washington, D.C., in June, Trump said that the “era of strategic patience with the North Korean regime has failed.”

As Trump made these comments, the U.S. was rocked with the death of Otto Warmbier, the 22-year-old American college student who suffered extensive brain damage while being held captive for more than a year.

There are ‘worse things’ than assassinating Kim Jong Un

In an interview with CBS News during the presidential campaign, Trump said he could “get China to make [Kim Jong Un] disappear in one form or another very quickly.”

When asked if he was talking about assassinating the North Korean dictator, Trump shrugged.

“Well, you know, I’ve heard of worse things, frankly. I mean, this guy’s a bad dude – and don’t underestimate him,” Trump said. “Any young guy that can take over from his father with all those generals and everybody else that probably wants the position, this is not somebody to be underestimated.”

In this undated photo provided by the North Korean government, leader Kim Jong Un celebrates what is said to be the first successful test launch of an intermediate rang Hwasong-12 missile. (AP Photo/Korean Central News Agency)

‘What the hell is wrong with speaking?’

Trump told supporters at a campaign rally in Atlanta that should Kim Jong Un want to come to the U.S., he would be “accept[ed].”

“I wouldn’t go there, that I can tell you. If he came here, I’d accept him, but I wouldn’t give him a state dinner like we do for China and all these other people that rip us off when we give them these big state dinners,” Trump said in June 2016.

“What the hell is wrong with speaking?” Trump said, referencing the criticism he’s received for being so willing to talk with North Korea. “It’s called opening a dialogue.”

‘Maniac’

During a GOP presidential debate in September 2015, Trump railed on the “maniac” in North Korea while answering a question about Planned Parenthood and women’s health issues.

“Nobody ever mentions North Korea, where you have this maniac sitting there, and he actually has nuclear weapons and somebody better start thinking about North Korea and perhaps a couple of other places. But certainly North Korea,” Trump said.

“You have somebody right now in North Korea who has got nuclear weapons and who is saying almost every other week, ‘I’m ready to use them,’ and we don’t even mention it,” he continued.

China needs to solve the problem

Even before he was president, Trump urged China to step in and help alleviate problems with North Korea.

“North Korea is reliant on China. China could solve this problem easily if they wanted to but they have no respect for our leaders,” Trump tweeted in March 2013.

“Do you want to do it in five years when they have warheads all over the place, every one of them pointing to New York City, to Washington and every one of us, is that when you want to do it, or do you want to do something now?” Trump said. “You’d better do it now. And if they think you’re serious … they’ll negotiate and it’ll never come to that.”

He said then that if he ever became president, the first step he would take would be to “negotiate like crazy” to make sure that the country would “get the best deal possible.” Trump also predicted then that in “three or four years,” North Korea would have weapons aimed all over the world, including at the U.S.

No more talking

After North Korea said it successfully launched a missile over Japan, a U.S. ally, and into the Pacific Ocean, Trump initially had a surprisingly subdued response.

“Threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the North Korean regime’s isolation in the region and among all nations of the world,” Trump said in a written statement after North Korea’s missile soared almost 1,700 miles into the Pacific Ocean, triggering alert warnings in northern Japan and shudders throughout Northeast Asia. “All options are on the table.”

The missile launch was said to be a “precursor” to North Korea’s containment of the U.S. territory of Guam by leader Kim Jong Un, according to state-run media.

But in a tweet Wednesday morning, the president suggested the U.S. is finished “talking” to North Korea.

“The U.S. has been talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years. Talking is not the answer,” Trump tweeted.